And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
The verse belongs to the instruction running through the first seven chapters of Proverbs to heed reproof and choose wisdom, for wisdom is the path of life. It stands in the last part of chapter 5, which contains deep philosophy that must be read slowly and thought over. It warns a son or young man against being ravished with or drawn into sexual temptation, adultery, and an illicit relationship with a strange woman. A strange woman means any woman other than his own wife, the wife of his youth.
Its instruction is to be kept continually in the heart. It is to take hold upon the heart of both men and women as a warning against the sins condemned there. The danger applies to men and women, married and single. Marriage is a sacred, exclusive union, so that even the desire to bring a stranger into the heart and home violates its purity, loyalty, unity, and sanctity. Such diversion of affection damages the trust and spiritual unity made possible between husband and wife.
Sensual food and drink, immoral entertainment, provocative fashions, lewd speech, and nude art can stir and distort sexual desire and lead toward the danger warned against. Rejecting this instruction and breaking spiritual laws brings spiritual disease and death. Although profitable for private reflection, the passage is not well suited to be read aloud in a mixed assembly of men and women.
The verse belongs to the instruction running through the first seven chapters of Proverbs to heed reproof and choose wisdom, for wisdom is the path of life. It stands in the last part of chapter 5, which contains deep philosophy that must be read slowly and thought over. It warns a son or young man against being ravished with or drawn into sexual temptation, adultery, and an illicit relationship with a strange woman. A strange woman means any woman other than his own wife, the wife of his youth.
Its instruction is to be kept continually in the heart. It is to take hold upon the heart of both men and women as a warning against the sins condemned there. The danger applies to men and women, married and single. Marriage is a sacred, exclusive union, so that even the desire to bring a stranger into the heart and home violates its purity, loyalty, unity, and sanctity. Such diversion of affection damages the trust and spiritual unity made possible between husband and wife.
Sensual food and drink, immoral entertainment, provocative fashions, lewd speech, and nude art can stir and distort sexual desire and lead toward the danger warned against. Rejecting this instruction and breaking spiritual laws brings spiritual disease and death. Although profitable for private reflection, the passage is not well suited to be read aloud in a mixed assembly of men and women.